The lockdowns imposed due to the pandemic caused British pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels nearly £200m a day in sales in 2020.
According to the latest data by UKHospitality and CGA Quarterly Tracker, sales fell from £133.5bn in 2019 to £61.7bn in 2020.
This is a drop in sales of 54% in one year (£72bn) – equivalent to nearly £200m a day or £8m per hour in lost sales.
Sales from October to December 2020 were worth just £14.3bn-down by £18.7bn or 57% on the last quarter of 2019.
Recent CGA research indicates that around 6,000 licensed premises in Britain closed permanently in 2020.
UKHospitality’s CEO Kate Nicholls and CGA group chief executive Phil Tate both called on the Government to deliver a package of financial support for the sector to ensure as many businesses and jobs as possible are saved.
Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, said: “These figures are simply devastating; hospitality was hit first, hit hardest and continues to suffer because of pandemic restrictions brought in. And sitting behind this massive loss of revenue is the dreadful, real impact on people’s lives and livelihoods across all parts of the sector and supply chain.
“Hospitality can and will bounce back and it’s in the interests of the Government to support a sector that, in normal times, contributes many billions of pounds in tax to the Treasury and employs over three million people. We need the Chancellor to step up again in his forthcoming Budget to deliver a bold, wide-ranging package of financial support that ensures as many businesses and jobs as possible are saved and the sector returns to growth. An extension of the VAT cut and business rates holiday must be top of the menu.”
